What is pharmacy?

Pharmacy is concerned with the design, evaluation, production and use of medicines. As such, it is based on the chemical, biological and medical sciences. In particular it offers the pursuit of an interest in science, the opportunity to join the NHS healthcare team, a wide choice of working environments and a very competitive salary.

Pharmacists are, therefore, acknowledged to be the experts in medicines. For example, they know how drugs interact with the body, their side-effects, how they interact with other drug substances, and how they should be formulated to have optimal therapeutic efficacy. They also serve patients and the community by providing information and advice on health, providing medications and associated services, and by referring patients to other sources of help and care, such as doctors, when necessary. Advances in the use of computers in pharmacy practice now allow pharmacists to spend more time educating patients and maintaining and monitoring patient records. As a result, patients have come to depend on the pharmacist as a health care and information resource of the highest calibre.

Pharmacists, in and out of the community pharmacy, are specialists in the science and clinical use of medications. They must be knowledgeable about the composition of drugs, their chemical and physical properties, and their manufacture and uses, as well as how products are tested for purity and strength. Additionally, a pharmacist needs to understand the activity of a drug and how it will work within the body. More and more prescribers rely on pharmacists for information about various drugs, their availability, and their activity, just as patrons do when they ask about non-prescription medications.

The principal goal of pharmaceutical care is to achieve positive outcomes from the use of medication which improves patients' quality of life. These outcomes include:

cure of a disease

elimination or reduction of symptoms

arresting or slowing a disease process

prevention of disease

diagnosis of disease

desired alterations in physiological processes Pharmacists are professionals, uniquely prepared and available, committed to public service and to the achievement of this goal.